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KMT plan to sink referendum won't work: Cabinet

Huang Hsu-chu, left, Xiang Yang, center, and Lu Tung-hsi, right, each hold a copy of the book they co-authored, Civil Servant Report -- a 1,000-day Chronicle of the DPP-led Government, at a launch ceremony yesterday. PHOTO: CHINAG YING-YING, TAIPEI TIMES

The opposition bloc's plan to revamp the Referendum Law (公民投票法) and annul President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) right to initiate a "defensive referendum" alongside the presidential poll might not succeed due to legislative procedure, Cabinet Spokesman Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday.

"The odds of successfully amending the law and blocking the president from exercising his right to mount a `defensive referendum' on the day of the presidential election are infinitesimal as long as the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) doesn't allow it," Lin said. "It'd be clearly violating the well-established tradition of the legislature and its internal rules to rush the issue to a vote."

The internal rules of the legislature stipulate that cross-party negotiations are required during the process of legal revisions. The issue must be put to a vote if all parties fail to reach a consensus four months after the proposition of legal amendments is proposed.

It would be manifest that the opposition alliance's intention was politically motivated if they opted to skip the cross-party talks and resort to a showdown, Lin said

"They should also brace themselves for public scrutiny and criticism," Lin said.

Lin made the remarks yesterday morning after speaking at the book launching ceremony of the Civil Servant Report -- a 1,000-day chronicle of the DPP-led government authored by journalists Xiang Yang (向陽) and Lu Tung-hsi (呂東熹) and college professor Huang Hsu-chu (黃旭初).

Lin yesterday also called on local governments to cooperate with the Central Election Commission to hold the "defensive referendum" or face punishment.

"I'm sure it's just a desperate and emotional appeal made by a few opposition lawmakers who know it's impossible to stop the referendum and want to see nothing but political confrontation between central and local governments and ruling and opposition parties," Lin said.

While he was confident that most of the civil servants would eventually cooperate and hold the referendum, Lin said that the Cabinet would continue to negotiate with local governments, especially those governed by opposition parties.

The opposition camp has called on cities and counties governed by pan-blue camp leaders not to cooperate in the referendum in their respective constituencies.

Anticipating that the opposition-dominated legislature might not accede to convene a provisionary session, Lin yesterday proposed that the legislature give priority to the review of the special bill and special budget of the five-year, NT$500 billion 10 new public construction project packages, the "sunshine laws" and financial reform bills when it reconvenes on Feb. 6.

"It makes perfect sense to review livelihood-related bills if the lawmaking body is scheduled to push forward the following legislative session," Lin said.

Lawmakers will make a final decision today on whether to hold a three-day special plenary session before the legislature convenes a new session.

A showdown is expected after the cross-party discussion to decide the fate of the proposition offered by the DPP caucus.

A quarter of the lawmakers are required to file the proposition to call a provisionary legislative session. The DPP caucus had managed to canvass endorsements from 86 lawmakers.

Disapproving of the proposal of their political rivals, opposition Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and People First Party (PFP) legislative caucuses yesterday said that it was unnecessary to call the provisionary session because the review of the bills proposed by the DPP was not urgent.

"We've called four provisionary sessions since the DPP came to power. I don't think it's necessary to call another one," PFP legislative leader Chou Hsi-wei (周錫瑋) told a press conference yesterday morning.

The opposition camp yesterday also proposed 10 priority bills. They include the lobby bill (遊說法), political donations bill (政治獻金法), anti-ethnic hatred bill (反族群仇恨法) and constitutional amendments regarding halving the legislative seats and altering the single-district, two-vote election system.
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